Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Martinsville:
Hornish Jr. 26th
Smith 33rd
McDowell 34th
Carpentier 37th
Franchitti 43rd

SAM HORNISH, JR., No. 77 MOBIL 1 DODGE: “The second lap I thought we were much better, just got back to the throttle a little bit too soon and got loose coming off the corner. Not a bad qualifying run. Hopefully we’ll continue to pick up. Martinsville has been one of my favorite places to come to so far of the places I’ve been and I just continue to learn as much as I can. I wish I would have waited on it a little bit longer. The Mobil 1 Dodge was pretty good and practice was real good on the first lap and we made some good changes between practice and qualifying. Need to get the driver to make sure he doesn’t put the throttle down too much.” WAS THIS ONE OF THE RACES YOU ATTEMPTED LAST SEASON? “Yes it was. We got bumped by the past champion provisional so that was disappointing for us last year. Actually, my warm-up lap last year was two-tenths faster than either one of my race laps. I think we would have been like 12th or something like that. That was a frustrating thing to come in here and have those problems but I’m really happy with the way that the Mobil 1 Dodge ran in qualifying. A little bit of driver error is going lose us 10 spots probably on the grid. We’ll have to try and make them up on Sunday.” HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO QUALIFY HERE? “It’s real difficult because you have to wait so much on the car in the middle of the corner. The car feels good, feels like you should be able to get back to the gas but you just can’t because you’re going to make the front of the car push out.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE TOYOTA: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT LAP? “No, not at all. Thought we could pick up some time there from practice and we only did one qualifying run. We were just a little bit too loose. We were really tight all day and we made a little adjustment there for qualifying. We just went a little bit too far. I’ve just got to thank everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota for giving me this opportunity and it’s great having the 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine this weekend and I’m really excited they came back on for another five races. Hopefully we can do them a good job in the race. This qualifying effort didn’t help us for sure but we’ve just got to keep plugging away.” HOW LONG WILL IT BE UNTIL YOU ARE ACCUSTOMED TO COMPETING IN THE SPRINT CUP SERIES? “Well, I don’t know. It’s a learning process for me, too, so it could be a matter of weeks or who knows how long it takes. The best thing is that we’re in the top-35 now and we’ve just got to get good results so we stay there.”

REGAN SMITH, No. 01 PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL CHEVROLET: “It’s a big relief. You don’t want to be in this situation in the first place but we’re in it and all the guys on the Principal Financial Group Chevy did a good job all day working hard and hopefully we’re going to get enough points where we can get out of that situation come Texas. But if not we’re going to keep working hard and be smart about this and get this thing back up in points.” YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET PRACTICE TIME IN RACE TRIM ON SATURDAY. “That’s going to be important. We started off a little bit in race trim today and I felt like we were going to be pretty decent. I actually feel like the car is going to be better in race trim than qualifying trim. It’s got good grip and stuff like that. We’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow morning. I’m glad this pressure is over with [smiles].”

DARIO FRANCHITTI, No. 40 KENNAMETAL DODGE: “I don’t know quite what else to say. That was pretty nerve-racking there and I’ve always done such a good job with the car, just chasing the car all day and it was a little bit loose through the middle of the corner there but we held and we’re in. I was never defeated. Bristol, actually, the car was fantastic. We had a brake issue that made it pretty difficult for 400 laps but certainly not defeated. My boys haven’t given up and I’m far from giving up as well so we’ll keep pushing.” CAN YOU PUT INTO WORDS PRESSURE PACKED TODAY HAS BEEN? “It reminds me of my first Indianapolis 500 qualifying. That’s what it’s like every week. You’re up against the best in the business here and unfortunately we’re learning right now [laughs] and it makes it tough but we’re in so that’s great.”

PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 10 CHARTER DODGE: “It feels like I’m coming back to school. I’ve been out for three weeks. That’s a long time in this world. I’m really happy. I want to run. I had doubts I was going to qualify this one this weekend. I mean, a flat track like that. They all tell me it’s like a road course but they’re lying. It’s bull because it’s nothing like a road course. The car was a little bit better than when I was in qualifying but I just wanted to make sure that I had the lap because I don’t have the track in my mind. When you do have the track really in your mind then you can really attack it. You know where it’s going to gain and I still don’t so I was really doubting today. But the car was good. It turned when it did and I just hit the laps and we made the show in so I’m pretty happy. I need the laps, I really do. These guys, they keep running and running and I’m always sitting at home and riding my snowmobiles [laughs]. That’s going to be good because I’m testing Tuesday and Wednesday and now we’re going to get back in the swings of things. We haven’t missed a race that we’ve had to qualify so far so I’m pretty happy.” YOU WILL HAVE TRACK TIME TOMORROW WITH RACE SETUP. “That’s very good and I think the car is not too bad at all. For the race setup I think we’re pretty close. We need a little bit more front end mid corner but they did a good job and it was decent so we learned a few things in qualifying we’ll use tomorrow and for the race. More and more I just want to race with the guys so we’re really going to focus on making the car more competitive tomorrow and not just getting laps.” WHAT MAKES MARTINSVILLE SO DIFFICULT? “I always seem to be, even in winter testing, a flat, short track was the hardest time that I had. You have to have a bit more experience to do it, I guess. Next week, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I like that. I feel comfortable. But it’s hard. These cars, they weight a ton when you don’t have the banking to stop and you’ve got to use everything you have and be so smooth to do but fast at the same time. It’s a very complex sport. People have no clue. I say it every time. It’s impressive because every track I go to is a different way of driving. For us we drive one way and that’s the way it drives and that’s it, you know. But these things, every track, the banking, the asphalt’s different, the size of track and then you’ve got to drive the car totally different so it’s really challenging. I love it though. It’s great.”

Notes: